If you are in a mad rush, just have a look at the pictures and enjoy. If you have a bit more time, you may want to read and share the impressions in the "box". If you really get into the swing of the content, a fuller description supplied by the organizers of the Exhibition, is all yours.
On Friday 6th January I took the Green Line Coach from Hatfield to the National History Museum in Kensington London to view the highly recommended exhibition. I set aside a generous chunk of three hours – they just flew in the light of the delight!
My overall response was awe before my Creator.
I was also most impressed with the dedication and sacrifices of the photographers to get
that shot. As a photographer-enthusiast I was interested in the techniques, story behind the photograph, the methods and the equipment used. This information was part of the description of every image. The one disappointment was that the megapixels together with dimensions of the original photographs weren't included.
In this post, I share the picks of my favourites: those images that stopped me in my tracks. Those that had the force to make me linger, respond emotionally, explore, be surprised, question and – call it hedonistic – delight.
I do hope you are about to enjoy some of these choices too. Undoubtedly your personal best would differ from this selection. As I plan to post some more impressions to the Wildlife Photographer 2011 Exhibition, you may spot those images that appeal to you personally.
In the white table-box, you will find my personal impressions and after each image, the description as supplied by the organisers of the Exhibition.
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’S and everything in it the world and all who live in it…”
Philippians 4:8 “…. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things. “
| The tern’s head and red, red beak are in pin-sharp focus while the rest of the photo is soft, serene and yet lively. Understandably the images on the Natural History Museum website consist of the minimum pixels. The idea is to protect the owners’ rights and to encourage viewers to go along in person and be treated by “the real maccoy”. I found the admission cost worth every penny! |
Ole Jørgen Liodden (Norway)
Midnight tern
Having led many trips to Norway's Svalbard archipelago, Ole knows exactly where to go for wildlife. When on location, he sleeps in the day and photographs at night, always carrying two cameras, ready for the moment. On this occasion, he was near Longyearbyen on the island of Spitzbergen. It was midnight when the light appeared, penetrating through the clouds and illuminating the valley up ahead. 'Midnight light is like a long-lasting, beautiful sunset,' he says. This time, though, it was so overwhelmingly beautiful that Ole started to walk towards it 'as though entranced'. And then the Arctic tern appeared. Pure magic. Ole adjusted his shutter speed to blur the background and tracked the tern - symbol of the Arctic - as it flew over the tundra alongside him.
Nikon D3S + 600mm f4 lens; 1/8 sec at f13; ISO 100.
| I have a soft spot for the oyster catcher and am thrilled with the success of their conservation in South Africa. Many a time I’ve tried to photograph pairs in Jeffrey's Bay, a surfing mecca on the Garden Route between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. |
Peter Chadwick (South Africa)
Taking off
With space at a premium, the normally territorial African black oystercatchers on Malgas Island, South Africa, are forced to congregate when feeding on the rocky shore. It's a time of intense social interaction, different breeding pairs flying in to claim their turn at the seaside table, prising shellfish off the rocks both to eat and to take back for their chicks. All the while, they keep an eye on the waves. 'They usually know exactly when to run from a crashing wave,' says Peter, 'but this wave seemed to take them by surprise'. Found only along the coastline of southern Africa, the charismatic species is the subject of a conservation success story. Back in the 1980s, numbers had declined to some 4,500 birds, mainly because their breeding beaches are also where humans with their dogs and off-road vehicles go, resulting in the death of many of the chicks. But though the species remains near-threatened, protection from disturbance in the breeding season has resulted in an increase in numbers to about 6,000.
Nikon D300S + 500mm f4 lens; 1/1600 sec at f8; ISO 640; Manfrotto tripod.
| No wonder these sunset-kissed snow-drops caught the eyes of the judges and was awarded winner in its category. I find snowdrops very difficult to capture. It’s still very cold when they make their appearance and to photograph them from an interesting angle you need to do the leopard crawl to get the elf’s view. These three beauties could have been called “The three graces”. Interesting and do-able technique. |
Sandra Bartocha (Germany)
Harbinger of spring
'My favourite time of the year is when the first snowdrops appear - the harbingers of spring,' says Sandra. 'When I see them, the air suddenly smells fresher and the sun feels a little warmer.' Sandra found this delicate group in a marshy area on the shore of Lake Tollensesee in Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania, Germany, overhung with a criss-cross mass of leafless tree branches. 'The setting sun created a beautiful orange reflection on the water behind, and I could hear great crested grebes calling. I took an in-camera double exposure image, with one sharp exposure and then one much softer one, so the scene would appear as dreamy as it felt.'
Nikon D700 + Meier Görlitz Trioplan 100mm f2.8 lens; 1/50 sec at f2.8; ISO 200.
| Patience pays, but even so, ants wait for no-one! Isn’t this priceless and timeless! |
Ant line
It was the shape of the dried-up, torn leaf that caught Adithya's eye. It hung from a tree on his farm in the forests of India's Western Ghats. He spent much of the day photographing the simple, abstract shape, but the results 'were too abstract and simple,' he says. 'So I waited, hoping that an insect, a dragonfly, for example, might land on it.' In the end, he waited four days. Then, finally, nature obliged. 'An ant climbed onto the leaf. But it was in such a hurry that I only managed to get four images,' only two of which worked for him. They worked because, by then, Adithya knew exactly how to achieve the effect he wanted.
Nikon D90 + 70-300mm lens; 1/500 sec at f8; ISO 400.
| Layer upon layer, this image of the flamingo’s gripped me! Aided by the weather and a predator and a beanbag……what a winning image. It works! |
Paul Goldstein (United Kingdom)
Taking flight
Paul arrived very early on the shores of Lake Nakuru, Kenya, before the rising sun had burnt off the mist. He had returned to photograph the greater and lesser flamingos and used shade, shadows and silhouettes to create drama, rather than sunlight to emphasize their vivid colours. He was helped by a combination of circumstances: rain during the night, a rapidly clearing sky, enough time for the cold air to form mist over the alkaline waters and a hyena hunting for young or infirm birds along the far shore of the soda lake. The predator set up a wave of panic, with those closest to it taking flight and those nearest to Paul standing alert. Ten minutes later, not only had the whole flock lifted up, but the mist had also burnt off, completely changing the scene.
Canon EOS-1D Mark 4 + 500mm f4 IS lens; 1/5000 sec at f10 (-1.7 e/v); ISO 200; beanbag.
| I’ve grown to love the wild poppies in the fields in the UK. After this winning picture, I hope to be as much tuned in for the seed-heads as the striking back-lit flowers. |
David Maitland (UK)
Fading beauty
On a car-park embankment near David's home in Wiltshire, a mass of poppies appeared one day. 'I love poppies,' he says, 'and I can't resist photographing them. It's hard to think of another plant that's so fleetingly beautiful . . . But when poppies flower en masse, it's almost too much, and it's hard to capture the ephemeral nature of their beauty.' For a week he checked on the patch every day, looking for a particular grouping. 'I wanted an image of simplicity - mostly of spent seedheads, with just a few poppies still in full bloom,' he explains. From a prone position, he shot them against an overcast sky to create an architecture of stems 'with little flashes of brilliance'. Three days later, someone 'weed-killered the lot,' he says. 'Most hadn't set seed. So there'll be no poppy meadow there next year.'
Canon EOS 5D Mark II + 70-200mm f2.8 lens; 1/160 sec at f11; ISO 50.
| This minute image does not even start to convey the force, the other-worldliness, the impact, the shapes in the original. What a stunning world and sky – what a stunning Creator and Saviour! |
Stephane Vetter (France)
Celestial arch
Stephane took two hours to walk to Creux du Van in western Switzerland, laden with heavy equipment. He had chosen this natural rocky amphitheatre as a grand backdrop to showcase his subject - the Milky Way. The temperature was -15°C (-5°F), but the sky was clear and there was no wind. He set up camp in the dark beside the ravine, his tripod balanced on the edge. 'The sky moves surprisingly quickly,' says Stephane, 'and I needed to be ready for the moment the Milky Way was right above the Creux du Van'. Clouds on the horizon blocked stray light from towns and villages. 'Gazing at the myriad of stars and constellations,' adds Stephane, 'it's fascinating to think that some of that light set off towards Earth millions of years ago'. He took 24 images of the vista. These were then 'stitched' to create a panoramic view, showing the celestial curve of the Milky Way complemented by the terrestrial curve of ancient rock.
Nikon D3 modified with Baader IR cut filter + 24mm f1.4 lens; 20 sec at f1.8; ISO 4000; Bilora C283 tripod + Ninja Nodal 5 panoramic head.
| The size of the displayed photograph left me feel the heat off the dune, the softness of the texture. Take a step forward and see that those small trees are in reality, huge trees. Experience something of the scale and the double-delight. |
Alessandra Meniconzi (Switzerland)
Gobi oasis
China is second home to Alessandra. She's travelled the country since childhood, visiting the most remote and wild corners, often cycling or hitch-hiking to get there. During a trip to Inner Mongolia, Alessandra travelled to the Alxa Desert Geopark in the Gobi Desert, which has the world's highest stationary dunes and more than 140 spring-fed lakes, and is a centre for the study of desertification. Climbing the highest dune, the oasis scene below took her breath away. 'I have never seen scenery like this: thousands of small, wind-moulded dunes sunk into one huge one, the scene doubled in size by the reflection in the lake, so that I felt lost in the middle of a huge ocean of sand. The only sounds were the soft whistle of the wind and early-morning birdsong. I felt regenerated.'
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III + 70-200mm f2.8 lens; 1/20 sec at f8; ISO 100; Giotto tripod.
| Isn’t this cuteness itself! I was so hoping to find a small print, or postcards in the Natural History Museum. Our grandchildren in New Zealand and Germany would have had a good look and giggle. But all the images of this Quinling monkey was sold out. No wonder! |
Cyril Ruoso (France)
Tiny warm-up
Folded up into a fur-ball, this youngster is warming its extremities in between bouts of play and feeding. He is part of a band of about 70 or so Qinling golden snub-nosed monkeys living high up in China's Qinling Mountains, surviving on lichen, leaves, bark and buds. 'If mother is not around to cuddle up to, then sitting like this is the best way to keep warm in the extreme winter cold,' says Cyril. Sitting apart from its mother also makes such a little monkey vulnerable to attack by goshawks or golden eagles. The species is endangered, and this subspecies probably numbers no more than about 4,000. The total population of all races of golden snub-nosed monkeys is only 8,000-20,000.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III + 400mm f2.8 lens; 1/200 sec at f2.8; ISO 400.
